Background: Pediatric and adolescent mental health and occupational wellness is a specialized allied health profession offering evidence-based therapeutic assessment and interventions to promote successful and independent completion of purposeful, environment-specific, daily tasks. Pediatric occupational therapists are specifically trained in evaluating mental health and occupational wellness through the identification of contexts, roles, interests, opportunities, and hindrances in a child's or adolescent's access to and engagement in meaningful occupations.Through their relationships with children and adolescents, occupational therapists are responsible for assessing engagement in valuable educational occupations within the context of learning environments. During the evaluation process, information about each child or adolescent client's interests, motivations, needs, strengths, limitations, and risks is gathered and analyzed from an occupational wellness perspective.This comprehensive assessment process informs pediatric occupational therapists on areas of deficit and informs the development of treatment plans. However, according to recent literature, occupational therapists are rarely included in collaborative mental health and wellness evaluation and treatment teams in educational settings and other multidisciplinary learning contexts.Method: It was unclear how pediatric occupational therapists evaluated mental health and wellness in children and adolescents as related to childhood occupations within educational contexts. The purpose of this timely scholarly project was to examine occupational therapists' knowledge and use of pediatric mental health and occupational wellness assessments. This initiative examined the appropriateness and use of readily available pediatric and adolescent mental health evaluation tools and identified areas for further investigation.Participants were solicited nationwide through social media, and agreeable respondents meeting the inclusion criteria were provided with a twenty-question survey. Answers to survey questions were collected from 105 respondents and were recorded and considered for data analysis.A mixed-methods research design was used to gain a comprehensive understanding of the research problem through a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Data collected was reviewed, organized, coded, and sorted into groups and themes. Following data organization, analysis, and integration, this evidence-based investigative study uncovered a lack of meaningful resources to assess mental health and occupational wellness in children and adolescents. In addition, secondary analysis uncovered a lack of availability and accessibility of updated and usable assessments (aligning with current trends and targeted areas of student deficit).Results: Results from the comprehensive analysis indicate a pressing need for targeted resources and the development of a comprehensive, contemporary pediatric mental health and occupational wellness evaluation to assess meaningful and successful engagement in childhood occupations within learning environments and other related contexts.Conclusion: The study outcomes informed the profession through the identification of current assessment needs in the field of pediatric and adolescent mental health and occupational wellness. Thematic analysis exposed the lack of applicable assessment resources, revealed the importance of intercollaborative allied health care in treatment interventions, and highlighted the importance of reflection, critical inquiry, and effective practice aligned with the mission and values of occupational therapy practice and professional engagement.The findings from the study have significant implications for pediatric occupational therapists, their university educators, and the teams in which they are associated.
